Method for measuring blood pressure, and apparatus for measuring blood pressure based on said method

ABSTRACT

A method of measuring blood pressure, including: sensing an atmospheric pressure, an applied pressure, and a blood pressure of a blood vessel delivered to a skin and outputting an electrical signal indicating a result of sensing the pressures; dividing the electrical signal into a divided electrical signal which includes a direct current (DC) signal and an alternating current (AC) signal; processing the divided electrical signal; calculating the applied pressure using the processed electrical signal; and calculating a blood pressure average using the calculated applied pressure and a swing value of the processed electrical signal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/469,658 filed on Aug. 27, 2014, which is a Continuation of PCTInternational Patent Application No. PCT/KR2012/009676 filed on Nov. 15,2012, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No.10-2012-0023995 filed on Mar. 8, 2012, which are all hereby incorporatedby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods of measuringblood pressure.

With a conventional method and apparatus for measuring blood pressure,it is difficult to directly measure the pressure of blood pumped fromthe heart. Thus, methods of indirectly measuring blood pressure havebeen used. A Korotkoff method is a representative method among thesemethods. In the Korotkoff method, the humeral region of a patient iswound with a band, the band is expanded by injecting air into the banduntil blood does not flow through blood vessels, and the blood pressureof the patient is measured using sound generated by gradually reducingpressure applied to the band. That is, when pressure is applied to theband by injecting air into the band and the amount of the air isgradually reduced, the sound of the pulse of the artery is heard similarto the sound heard when an object is feebly tapped. In this case, thepressure at this moment is systolic pressure which is blood pressurewhen the heart contracts. Then, when the amount of the air injected intothe band is further reduced, there is a moment that the sound of thepulse increases more and then suddenly vanishes. The blood pressure atthis moment is diastolic pressure, i.e., pressure in the blood vesselswhen the ventricles of the heart contract and expand again.

As another example, the SPO2 method has been also used to measure bloodpressure. In the SPO2 method, oxygen saturation in a capillary vessel ismeasured and the blood pressure of a subject is determined based on thelevel of hemoglobin in blood flow.

SUMMARY

The conventional methods described above are, however, accompanied byvarious problems. First, in the Korotkoff method, blood pressure ismeasured by pressing down on the humeral region of a subject so thatblood may not flow through blood vessels and gradually reducing pressureapplied to the humeral region. However, blood cannot be delivered tohuman tissues while the humeral region is pressurized. Thus, oxygen andnutrients are not supplied to the human tissues and the capillaryvessels are thus ruptured, thereby causing terminus tissues tonecrotize. Accordingly, it is impractical to perform the Korotkoffmethod on even normal persons five times or more per day. In particular,serious problems may occur when the Korotkoff method is performed on adiabetic.

Also, in the SPO2 method of measuring oxygen saturation, the level ofhemoglobin is not closely related to blood pressure and thus thedifference between individuals is large. In particular, in the case of apregnant woman with a fetus, a hemoglobin level is high but bloodpressure is low. Thus, it is not practical to apply the SPO2 method tothe pregnant woman. In the case of a diabetic, the viscosity of blood ishigh and blood pressure of the diabetic is difficult to preciselymeasure with the SPO2 method. Thus, there is a need to develop anapparatus and method for measuring blood pressure which is useful forpersons whose blood pressure need to be continuously monitored.

To solve the above conventional problems, one of the objectives of thepresent invention is to provide an apparatus and method for continuouslymeasuring and monitoring blood pressure. Another objective of thepresent invention is to provide an apparatus and method for preciselymeasure the blood pressure of a particular subject, such as a diabetic,a pregnant woman, etc.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided ablood pressure measuring apparatus including a pressure sensor unitconfigured to sense an atmospheric pressure, an applied pressure, and ablood pressure of a blood vessel delivered to a skin and output anelectrical signal indicating a result of sensing the pressures, while incontact with the skin; a signal division unit configured to receive theelectrical signal and divide the electrical signal into a dividedelectrical signal which includes a direct current (DC) signal and analternating current (AC) signal; a signal processor unit configured toprocess the divided electrical signal; and a blood pressure calculationunit configured to calculate the applied pressure using the processedelectrical signal and calculate a blood pressure average using thecalculated applied pressure and a swing value of the electrical signal.

In one embodiment, the pressure sensor unit may include a housingincluding a concave structure; and a pressure sensor installed in thehousing and configured to sense a pressure in the concave structure.

In one embodiment, the pressure sensor unit may sense the atmosphericpressure and the applied pressure, output a DC signal indicating aresult of sensing the atmospheric pressure and the applied pressure,sense the pressure of the blood vessel delivered to the skin, and outputan AC signal indicating a result of sensing the delivered pressure.

In one embodiment, the signal processor unit may include an amplifierconfigured to amplify an input signal; and an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) configured to perform digital conversion on theamplified input signal.

In one embodiment, the signal processor unit may include an amplifierconfigured to amplify an input signal; a level shifter configured toshift a level of the input signal; and a plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) configured to perform digital conversions on outputsof the amplifier and the level shifter.

In one embodiment, the signal division unit may include a high-passfilter unit configured to remove a DC signal from an output signal ofthe pressure sensor unit and output an AC signal.

In one embodiment, the high-pass filter unit may include at least one ofa first or higher order high-pass filter and a capacitor.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may include anarithmetic unit configured to calculate a blood pressure average byperforming an arithmetic operation on the calculated applied pressureand the swing value of the electrical signal; a memory unit configuredto store the applied pressure and the swing value of the electricalsignal; an input/output (I/O) unit configured to receive a signal fromthe signal processor unit and output a value calculated by thearithmetic unit; and a control unit configured to control the arithmeticunit, the memory unit, and the I/O unit.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may further include a display unitconfigured to display the blood pressures calculated by the bloodpressure calculation unit.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may further include a communicationunit configured to communicate with at least one of an external serverand a terminal through wired/wireless communication to transmit thepressures calculated by the blood pressure calculation unit.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate theswing value from the difference between a maximum value and a minimumvalue of the electrical signal, and calculate the applied pressure bysubtracting the atmospheric pressure from a pressure sensed by andoutput from the pressure sensor unit.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate arate of transfer of pressure via subcutaneous tissue, based on theapplied pressure.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate theblood pressure average from a slope of a straight line formed bycoordinate pairs including the calculated applied pressure and the swingvalue of the electrical signal.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate apulse pressure by dividing a value, which is obtained by subtracting asecond constant from the product of the blood pressure average and afirst constant, by the applied pressure.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda blood pressure measuring apparatus including a pressure sensor unitconfigured to sense an atmospheric pressure, an applied pressure, and ablood pressure of a blood vessel delivered to a skin and output anelectrical signal indicating a result of sensing the pressures, while incontact with the skin; a signal division unit configured to receive theelectrical signal and divide the electrical signal into a dividedelectrical signal which includes a direct current (DC) signal and analternating current (AC) signal; a signal processor unit configured toprocess the divided electrical signal; and a blood pressure calculationunit configured to calculate the applied pressure using the processedelectrical signal and calculate a pulse pressure using the calculatedapplied pressure and a swing value of the electrical signal.

In one embodiment, the pressure sensor unit may include a housingincluding a concave structure; and a pressure sensor installed in thehousing and configured to sense a pressure in the concave structure.

In one embodiment, the pressure sensor unit may sense the atmosphericpressure and the applied pressure, output a DC signal indicating aresult of sensing the atmospheric pressure and the applied pressure,sense the pressure of the blood vessel delivered to the skin, and outputan AC signal indicating a result of sensing the delivered pressure.

In one embodiment, the signal processor unit may include an amplifierconfigured to amplify an input signal; and an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) configured to perform digital conversion on theamplified input signal.

In one embodiment, the signal processor unit may include an amplifierconfigured to amplify an input signal; a level shifter configured toshift a level of the input signal; and a plurality of analog-to-digitalconverters (ADCs) configured to perform digital conversions on outputsof the amplifier and the level shifter into digital signals.

In one embodiment, the signal division unit may include a high-passfilter unit configured to remove a DC signal from an output signal ofthe pressure sensor unit and output an AC signal.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may include anarithmetic unit configured to calculate a pulse pressure by performingan arithmetic operation on the calculated applied pressure and the swingvalue of the electrical signal; a memory unit configured to store theapplied pressure and the swing value of the electrical signal; aninput/output (I/O) unit configured to receive a signal from the signalprocessor unit and output a value calculated by the arithmetic unit; anda control unit configured to control the arithmetic unit, the memoryunit, and the I/O unit.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may further include a display unitconfigured to display the calculated pressures.

In one embodiment, the apparatus may further include a communicationunit configured to communicate with at least one of an external serverand a terminal through wired/wireless communication to transmit thecalculated pressures.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate theswing value from the difference between a maximum value and a minimumvalue of the electrical signal, and calculate the applied pressure bysubtracting the atmospheric pressure from a pressure sensed by andoutput from the pressure sensor unit.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate arate of transfer of pressure via subcutaneous tissue, based on theapplied pressure.

In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit may calculate ablood pressure average from a slope of a segment formed by coordinatepairs of the calculated applied pressure and the swing value of theelectrical signal, and calculates the pulse pressure by dividing avalue, which is obtained by subtracting a fourth constant from a productof the blood pressure average and a third constant, by the appliedpressure and multiplying a division result by the swing value.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda blood pressure measuring method including sensing an atmosphericpressure, an applied pressure, and a blood pressure of a blood vesseldelivered to a skin and outputting an electrical signal indicating aresult of sensing the pressures; dividing the electrical signal into adivided electrical signal which includes a direct current (DC) signaland an alternating current (AC) signal; processing the dividedelectrical signal; calculating the applied pressure using the processedelectrical signal; and calculating a blood pressure average using thecalculated applied pressure and a swing value of the processedelectrical signal.

In one embodiment, the sensing and the outputting include sensing theatmospheric pressure and the applied pressure, outputting a DC signalindicating a result of sensing the atmospheric pressure and the appliedpressure, sensing the pressure of the blood vessel delivered to theskin, and outputting an AC signal indicating a result of sensing thedelivered pressure.

In one embodiment, the processing of the divided electrical signal maycomprise amplifying the divided electrical signal or shifting levels ofthe divided electrical signal; and performing digital conversions on theamplified or level-shifted electrical signal.

In one embodiment, the method may further include communicating with atleast one of an external server and a terminal through wired/wirelesscommunication to transmit the calculated average blood pressure.

In one embodiment, the calculating of the blood pressure average mayinclude calculating the swing value by calculating the differencebetween a maximum value and a minimum value of the electrical signal;and calculating the applied pressure by subtracting the atmosphericpressure from a pressure sensed by and output from the pressure sensor.

In one embodiment, the calculating of the blood pressure average mayinclude calculating a rate of transfer of pressure via subcutaneoustissue using the applied pressure.

In one embodiment, the calculating of the blood pressure average mayinclude calculating coordinate pairs including the calculated appliedpressure and the swing value; and calculating the blood pressure averagefrom a slope of a segment formed by the coordinate pairs.

In one embodiment, after the calculating of the blood pressure average,the method may further include calculating a pulse pressure by dividinga value, which is obtained by subtracting a second constant from theproduct of the blood pressure average and a first constant, by theapplied pressure.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the blood pressureof a subject can be continuously measured. According to one embodimentof the present invention, the blood pressure of a particular subject,e.g., a diabetic, a pregnant woman, etc., can be precisely measured.According to one embodiment of the present invention, a blood pressuresystem that is easy to carry and is always wearable is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a brief block diagram of a blood pressure measuring apparatusaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a pressure sensor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating signal division unitsaccording to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a blood pressure calculation unitaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a blood pressure average calculationmethod according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a pulse pressure calculation methodaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a brief flowchart of a blood pressure measuring methodaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following descriptions about the present invention are merelyembodiments for describing the present invention in astructural/functional view and the scope of the invention should not beconstrued as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. That is,various changes may be made in these exemplary embodiments withoutdeparting from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope ofwhich is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

The terminology used herein should be understood as described below.

It will be understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,”“third,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements,components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components,regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms.These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region,layer or section from another element, component, region, layer orsection. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or sectiondiscussed below could be termed a second element, component, region,layer or section without departing from the teachings of the presentinvention.

It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to asbeing “on” another element or layer, the element or layer can bedirectly on another element or layer or intervening elements or layers.In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “in contact with”another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layerspresent. Other expressions describing the relationship between elementsor layers, such as “via”, “directly via”, “between,” “directly between,”“adjacent to,” and “directly adjacent to” should be understood likewise.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise”and/or “include”, when used in this specification, specify the presenceof stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

Operations included in a process may be performed differently from thedescribed order unless specified otherwise. That is, the operations maybe performed in the described order, performed substantially at the sametime, or performed in an order opposite to the described order.

In the drawings referred to describe the embodiments set forth herein,sizes, heights, thicknesses, etc. of layers and regions may beexaggerated for clarity and should not understood as being enlarged orreduced in a certain ratio. Also, in the drawings, some elements may beintentionally reduced and some elements are intentionally enlarged interms of size, height, or thickness thereof

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

A method of measuring blood pressure according to an embodiment of thepresent invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 5 are diagrams illustrating a bloodpressure measuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 1 is a brief block diagram of a blood pressure measuringapparatus 1000 according to one embodiment of the present invention.Referring to FIG. 1, the blood pressure measuring apparatus 1000according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a pressuresensor unit 100, a signal division unit 200, a signal processor unit300, and a blood pressure calculation unit 400. According to the oneembodiment, the blood pressure measuring apparatus 1000 further includesa communication unit 500.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the pressure sensor unit100. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the pressure sensor unit 100 sensesatmospheric pressure Patm, applied pressure Ppress, and pressure Pskinof a blood vessel delivered to the skin of a subject and outputs anelectrical signal indicating a result of sensing the pressures, in astate in which the pressure sensor unit 100 is in contact with the skin101 of a subject. In one embodiment, the pressure sensor unit 100includes a housing 120 having a concave structure, and a pressure sensor140 which is installed in the housing 120, senses the pressure of aircontained between the concave structure of the housing 120 and the skin101 and the blood pressure in a blood vessel 102 which is delivered tothe skin 101, and then outputs an electrical signal indicating a resultof sensing the pressure of air and the blood pressure. In oneembodiment, the pressure sensor 140 senses atmospheric pressure Patm,the applied pressure Ppress, and pressure Pskin applied to the skin 101by the blood vessel 102 via a subcutaneous tissue 103. Since in general,the atmospheric pressure Patm has a constant value of 760 mmHg, anelectrical signal output from the pressure sensor 140 when the pressuresensor 140 senses the atmospheric pressure Patm has a direct current(DC) component. The pressure Pskin delivered to the skin 101 means theblood pressure in the blood vessel 102 which is applied to the pressuresensor 140 via the blood vessel 102, the subcutaneous tissue 103, andthe skin 101. Since the pressure of the blood vessel 102 is periodicallyswitched between a systolic pressure which is a maximum pressure and adiastolic pressure which is a minimum pressure as the heart contractsand relaxes, the pressure Pskin delivered to the skin 101 is alsoperiodically switched between a maximum level and a minimum level. Also,a variation in the form of the pressure Pskin according to time issimilar to that in the form of the blood pressure in the blood vessel102 according to time. Thus, the electrical signal output from thepressure sensor 140 when the pressure sensor 140 senses the pressurePskin delivered to the skin 101 is in a form of an alternating current(AC) signal that changes according to time. The applied pressure Ppressmeans a pressure sensed by the pressure sensor 140, such as a pressurewhen the pressure sensor unit 100 is pressed by a finger of a user orthe like or a pressure that increases or decreases when a part of thebody of the subject who wears the pressure sensor unit 100 moves, exceptfor the atmospheric pressure Patm and the pressure Pskin of the bloodvessel 102 delivered to the skin 101. In the present disclosure, theapplied pressure Ppress is a generic term for any applied pressureexcept for the atmospheric pressure Patm and the pressure Pskindelivered to the skin 101. Thus, an electrical signal output from thepressure sensor 140 when the pressure sensor 140 senses the appliedpressure Ppress is in the form of a DC signal that does not change orslightly changes according to time. Thus, a signal output from thepressure sensor unit 100 when the pressure sensor unit 100 senses theatmospheric pressure Patm and the applied pressure Ppress is in the formof a DC signal, and a signal output from the pressure sensor unit 100when the pressure sensor unit 100 senses the pressure Pskin delivered tothe skin 101 is in the form of an AC signal. Accordingly, an overallsignal s output from the pressure sensor unit 100 is in the form inwhich the DC signal and the AC signal overlap each other. Referencenumeral “104” that is not described here denotes a bone that may presentin subcutaneous tissue.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating signal division unit 200according to various embodiments of the present invention. Referring toFIGS. 1 and 3, according to an embodiment of the present invention, thesignal s output from the pressure sensor unit 100 is divided into a DCsignal z′, which is output from the pressure sensor unit 100 when thepressure sensor unit 100 senses the atmospheric pressure Patm and theapplied pressure Ppress, and an AC signal y′, which is output from thepressure sensor unit 100 when the pressure sensor unit 100 senses thepressure Pskin delivered to the skin 101, through the signal divisionunit 200. The DC signal z′ output from the pressure sensor unit 100 whenthe pressure sensor unit 100 senses the atmospheric pressure Patm andthe applied pressure Ppress is generated through overlapping of a valueaccording to the atmospheric pressure Patm and a value according to theapplied pressure Ppress. The applied pressure Ppress is calculated bysubtracting the atmospheric pressure Patm from a total pressure. In oneembodiment, the signal division unit 200 may include a high-pass filter(HPF) unit 220 that separates only the AC signal y′ from the electricalsignal s output from the pressure sensor unit 100, and a low-pass filter(LPF) unit 240 that separates only the DC signal z′ from the electricalsignal s output from the pressure sensor unit 100. In anotherembodiment, the signal division unit 200 includes only the HPF unit 220that separates only the AC signal y′ from the electrical signal s outputfrom the pressure sensor unit 100 as illustrated in FIG. 3(b), since theintensity of the AC signal y′ is less than that of the DC signal z′ inthe electrical signal s output from the pressure sensor unit 100. In oneembodiment, the HPF unit 220 or the LPF unit 240 may be embodied as atleast one among a first-order filter, a second-order filter, and ahigher-order filter. In another embodiment, the HPF unit 220 may beembodied as a capacitor 220′ that blocks direct current as illustratedin FIG. 3(c).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the signal processor unit 300 processes theelectrical signal. In one embodiment, the signal processor unit 300includes an amplifier 320 a that amplifies the input AC signal y′, ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC) 340 a that converts the amplified ACsignal y′ into a digital signal, an amplifier/level shifter 320 b thatamplifies the DC signal z′ to a level sufficient to convert the DCsignal z′ into a digital signal or that shifts a level of the DC signalz′, and an ADC 340 b that converts an output signal into a digitalsignal. In one embodiment, a signal s output from the signal divisionunit 200 may be the DC signal z′ and the AC signal y′, or a signalobtained by overlapping the DC signal z′ and the AC signal y′. Thesesignals may be directly converted into digital signals, but the ACsignal y′ has a far narrower swing width than the DC signal z′ and thusis difficult to be converted into a digital signal having a maximumresolution. Thus, the AC signal y′ is amplified by the amplifier 320 ahaving a gain appropriate to be used as the maximum resolution. Adigital signal y having a high resolution may be formed by inputting theamplified AC signal y′ to the ADC 340 a. Also, the amplifier/levelshifter 320 b converts the DC signal z′ input to the signal processorunit 300 to a level appropriate to convert the DC signal z′ into adigital signal, and inputs the converted DC signal z′ to the ADC 340 b.The converted DC signal z′ is converted into a digital signal z by theADC 340 b. Although an arithmetic operation may be described below in amanner similar to a manner in which it is performed on an analog signal,the arithmetic operation is performed on a digital signal.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of the blood pressure calculationunit 400 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 isa graph illustrating a blood pressure average calculation methodaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. A structure of theblood pressure calculation unit 400 and an operation of the bloodpressure calculation unit 400 for calculating a blood pressure averagewill now be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4, and 5. The bloodpressure calculation unit 400 receives electrical signals y and z thatare digitized by the signal processor unit 300, calculates an appliedpressure Ppress, and calculates a blood pressure average based on theapplied pressure Ppress and swing values of the electrical signals y andz. In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit 400 includesan input/output (I/O) unit 420 including an input sub-unit 420 a towhich the electrical signals y and z that are processed by the signalprocessor unit 300 are input and an output sub-unit 420 b that outputsthe calculated blood pressure average; an arithmetic unit 440 thatcalculates the blood pressure average based on a signal converted into adigital signal by the signal processor unit 300; a memory unit 460 thatstores input values and an arithmetic result value; and a control unit480 that controls the I/O unit 420, the arithmetic unit 440, and thememory unit 460. In one embodiment, the blood pressure calculation unit400 is embodied as one microcontroller unit (MCU) chip. In anotherembodiment, at least one among the arithmetic unit 440, the memory unit460, the I/O unit 420, and the control unit 480 is embodied as aseparate chip. In one embodiment, the arithmetic unit 440 calculates ablood pressure, etc. according to an algorithm implemented in hardware.In another embodiment, the arithmetic unit 440 calculates a bloodpressure, etc. according to an algorithm implemented in software.Operations which will be described below using blood pressurecalculation units according to embodiments of the present invention areintended to help understand the concept of the present invention but arenot intended to limit the scope of the invention by the embodiments setforth herein. Thus, those of ordinary skill in the art could accomplishthe present invention in different forms based on the concept of thepresent invention and thus the scope of the present invention should beunderstood as covering equivalents falling within the inventive conceptdisclosed herein.

In one embodiment, the input sub-unit 420 a of the I/O unit 420 receivesa pressure signal y that was delivered to the skin of a subject andconverted into a digital signal, and a signal z which is a sum of theatmospheric pressure Patm and the applied pressure Ppress. The controlunit 480 outputs the signals y and z to the arithmetic unit 440. Thearithmetic unit 440 calculates the applied pressure Ppress from thesignal z which is a sum of the atmospheric pressure Patm and the appliedpressure Ppress. That is, if a pressure value of the DC signal z inputto the I/O unit 420 is P, P=Patm+Ppress. Thus, the applied pressurePpress may be calculated by subtracting the atmospheric pressure Patmfrom the input pressure value P.

Also, the signal y obtained by sensing pressure delivered to the skin ofa subject has a maximum value and a minimum value according to avariation in a blood pressure in a blood vessel. The arithmetic unit 440calculates a swing value dy that is the difference between the maximumand minimum values of the signal y obtained by sensing pressuredelivered to the skin in each of predetermined periods, e.g., betweensystolic periods or between diastolic periods, and forms coordinatepairs indicated by “∘” and “▪” in FIG. 5, based on the swing value dyand the applied pressure Ppress in each of the periods. The control unit480 stores the coordinate pairs in the memory unit 460, and thearithmetic unit 440 obtains straight lines Xavg1 and Xavg2 from thestored coordinate pairs according to an averaging algorithm such as arecursive averaging algorithm or the like. In the case of the straightline Xavg1 of FIG. 5, the lower the applied pressure Ppress, the lessthe swing value dy of the signal y obtained by sensing the pressuredelivered to the skin, and the higher the applied pressure Ppress, thegreater the swing value dy. That is, when the pressure delivered to theskin is measured while increasing pressure applied onto a blood pressuremeter, blood vessels and subcutaneous tissues are pressed to increasethe rate of transfer of pressure via the subcutaneous tissues, therebyincreasing a swing width dy of the pressure applied to the skin.

The inventor of the present invention found that the slope of a straightline formed by the swing value dy in a specific time period and theapplied pressure Ppress is proportional to a blood pressure average of asubject, and the blood pressure average may be calculated from the slopeof the straight line. That is, a blood pressure average of a subjectcorresponding to a line with a steep slope such as the straight lineXavg2 is higher than that of a subject corresponding to a line with aslight slope such as the straight line Xavg1. According to the inventorof the present invention, the relation between the slope of a linemeasured as described above and a blood pressure average is expressed byEquation 1 below.

$\begin{matrix}{{X_{avg} = \frac{\left( {{slope} + 0.1173} \right)}{0.001933}}{{X_{avg}\text{:}\mspace{14mu}{blood}\mspace{14mu}{pressure}\mspace{14mu}{average}},{{slope}\text{:}\mspace{14mu}{slope}\mspace{14mu}{of}\mspace{14mu}{straight}\mspace{14mu}{line}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Thus, the arithmetic unit 440 forms a straight line by performing anarithmetic operation on the coordinate pairs stored in the memory unit460 according to an averaging algorithm such as the recursive averagingalgorithm. Since the blood pressure of a human being and an appliedpressure are finite values, the coordinate pairs have finite values andthus the slope of the straight line converges to a finite value evenwhen an averaging algorithm such as the recursive averaging algorithm isperformed. The recursive averaging algorithm is one example of anaveraging algorithm available in one embodiment of the presentinvention. Thus, the present invention is not limited thereto and astraight line may be formed using various averaging algorithms. Thearithmetic unit 440 may calculate a slope value of the formed straightline, and calculate the blood pressure average of the subject based onEquation 1 above using the slope value. In one embodiment, the controlunit 480 stores a blood pressure average measured by the arithmetic unit440 in the memory unit 460. In one embodiment, the control unit 480transmits a blood pressure average calculated by the arithmetic unit 440to the output sub-unit 420 b of the I/O unit 420.

A method of calculating a blood pressure average will be describedbelow. The signal y obtained by sensing the pressure delivered to theskin is expressed by Equation 2 below.y=x×A×S×G+y0  [Equation 2]

-   -   x: pressure of blood pressure,    -   A: rate of transfer of pressure of subcutaneous tissue    -   S: sensitivity of pressure of sensor, G: gain of amplifier    -   y0: offset values of sensor and amplifier

Thus, the swing value dy of the signal y obtained by sensing thepressure applied to the skin is expressed by Equation 3 below.dy=dx×A×S×G  [Equation 3]

In Equation 3, the swing value dy is proportional to a pulse pressuredx, that is the difference dx between a systolic pressure which is amaximum blood pressure and a diastolic pressure which is a minimumpressure, and is calculated by the product of the pulse pressure dx, therate A of transfer of pressure via a subcutaneous tissue, thesensitivity S of a sensor to pressure, and the gain G of an amplifier.In general, it is medically known that the higher the blood pressureaverage of a person, the higher the pulse pressure dx. Thus, when anapplied pressure Ppress1 is the same, the higher the blood pressureaverage, the greater the swing value dy should be. However, anexperiment result revealed that when the same applied pressure Ppresswas applied to the subject corresponding to the straight line Xavg2 of ahigh average blood pressure and the subject corresponding to thestraight line Xavg1 of a low average blood pressure, a swing value dy1of the straight line Xavg1 was greater than a swing value dy2 of thestraight line Xavg2. This is because the rate A of transfer of pressureof a subject having a relatively high blood pressure via a blood vesseland subcutaneous tissue is lower than the rate of transfer of pressureof the subject having a relatively low blood pressure. Thus, in the caseof the straight line Xavg1, even if the same applied pressure Ppress isapplied, the swing value dy was large. Thus, with the pressure sensorunit 100 that senses a pressure at a constant sensitivity S and thesignal processor unit 300 that processes an electrical signal with aconstant gain G, a blood pressure average Xavg and the rate of transferof pressure via subcutaneous tissue may be measured through anarithmetic calculation using a swing value dy of an electrical signalobtained by sensing pressure delivered to the skin of a subject and anapplied pressure.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a pulse pressure calculation methodaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. An operation ofthe blood pressure calculation unit 400 for calculating a pulse pressuredx will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4, and 6. The bloodpressure calculation unit 400 calculates a blood pressure average byperforming the operation described above. The inventor of the presentinvention found that a relation between a value dy/dx, which is obtainedby dividing a swing value dy of an electrical signal obtained by sensingapplied pressure Ppress and pressure Pskin delivered to the skin of asubject, by a pulse pressure dx, which swings between a systolicpressure which is a maximum blood pressure and a diastolic pressurewhich is a minimum blood pressure, and the applied pressure Ppress isexpressed in the form of a straight line as illustrated in FIG. 6. Therelation between the value dy/dx and the applied pressure Ppress isexpressed by Equation 4 below.

$\begin{matrix}{P_{press} = {a \times \frac{dy}{dx}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In Equation 4, a slope a is relevant to the blood pressure average. Therelation between the slope a and the blood pressure average is expressedby Equation 5 below.a=0.07811×(Xavg)−4.449  [Equation 5]

-   -   X_(avg): blood pressure average

Thus, the pulse pressure dx may be calculated in conjunction withEquations 4 and 5, as shown in Equation 6 below.

$\begin{matrix}{{dx} = {{dy} \times \frac{{0.07811 \times X_{avg}} - 4.449}{P_{press}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 6} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Thus, the pulse pressure dx may be calculated by calculating Equation 6using the swing value dy, the applied pressure Ppress, and the bloodpressure average Xavg stored in the memory unit 460 during thecalculation of a blood pressure average. Accordingly, a maximum bloodpressure Xmax which is a systolic pressure may be calculated by addinghalf the pulse pressure dx to the blood pressure average Xavg, and aminimum blood pressure Xmin which is a diastolic pressure may becalculated by subtracting half the pulse pressure dx from the bloodpressure average Xavg. To perform the arithmetic operation, the controlunit 480 transmits to the arithmetic unit 440 information regarding theblood pressure average Xavg and information regarding a coordinate pairof the swing value dy and the applied pressure Ppress stored in thememory unit 460. The arithmetic unit 440 calculates Equation 6 based onthe transmitted information, and stores the calculated pulse pressuredx, the maximum blood pressure Xmax, the minimum blood pressure Xmin,etc. in the memory unit 460. Also, the control unit 480 transmits thecalculated average blood pressure, the pulse pressure dx, the maximumblood pressure Xmax, the minimum blood pressure Xmin to the outputsub-unit 420 b of the I/O unit 420 to transmits these values to theoutside or to display them on a blood pressure display unit.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, the communication unit 500transmits a blood pressure average, a pulse pressure, a maximum/minimumblood pressures, etc., which are received from the I/O unit 420, to atleast one among an external server (not shown), a terminal (not shown),and a display device (not shown) of the pressure sensor unit 100 bycommunicating the at least one through at least one of wiredcommunication and wireless communication. In one embodiment, thecommunication unit 500 may communicate with the external server or theterminal using at least one communication protocol among Wifi,Bluetooth, ZigBee, infrared (IR) communication. However, the presentinvention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, thecommunication unit 500 may communicate with a server outside a bloodpressure measuring apparatus through wireless/wired communication totransmit the blood pressure average, the pulse pressure, etc. to theserver. Thus, the server may continuously monitor a blood pressure stateof a subject by communicating with a blood pressure measuring apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. In anotherembodiment, the communication unit 500 may transmit the blood pressureaverage, the pulse pressure, etc. to an external terminal bycommunicating with the external terminal through wireless/wiredcommunication. In one embodiment, a terminal may be one of a mobilephone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a tabletpersonal computer (PC) capable of communicating with a blood pressuremeasuring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.In another embodiment, the communication unit 500 transmits bloodpressures, such as a calculated average blood pressure, a maximum bloodpressure, a minimum blood pressure, etc. to a display unit (not shown)of the pressure sensor unit 100 to display the blood pressures on thedisplay unit. In one embodiment, the display unit may be a liquidcrystal display (LCD) device formed on a surface of the pressure sensorunit 100 and capable of displaying the measured blood pressure thereon.Thus, a subject is able to conveniently monitor his/her blood pressurestate via a terminal at any time and thus prevent an accident fromoccurring due to an increase or a decrease in his/her blood pressure.

A blood pressure measuring method according to an embodiment of thepresent invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings below. Overlapping portions between the blood pressuremeasuring method and the above blood pressure measuring apparatus areomitted here for convenience of explanation. FIG. 7 is a brief flowchartof a blood pressure measuring method according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. Referring to FIG. 7, a pressure sensor unit is placedon a portion of a subject, the blood pressure of whom is to be measured,to sense atmospheric pressure Patm, applied pressure Ppress, and thepressure of a blood vessel delivered to the skin of the subject and tooutput an electrical signal indicating a result of sensing the pressures(S100). An electrical signal output by sensing the atmospheric pressurePatm and the applied pressure Ppress is in the form of a DC signal, avariation in the intensity of which is zero or small according to time,and an electrical signal output by sensing the pressure in the bloodvessel delivered to the skin is in the form of an AC signal.

The output electrical signal is divided into a DC signal and an ACsignal (S200). In one embodiment, the electrical signal output bysensing the atmospheric pressure Patm, the applied pressure Ppress, andthe pressure of the blood vessel delivered to the skin is a signalobtained by overlapping the DC signal and the AC signal. Thus, only theAC signal may be obtained by filtering the electrical signal using ahigh-pass filter or a capacitor. In another embodiment, only the DCsignal may be obtained by filtering the electrical signal using alow-pass filter. In another embodiment, an AC signal may be obtainedusing a high-pass filter or a capacitor, and a signal obtained byoverlapping a DC component with an AC component may be used, since themagnitude of an AC component is lower than that of a DC component in theelectrical signal output from the pressure sensor unit.

Next, the DC signal and the AC signal are processed (S300). In oneembodiment, the processing of the DC signal and the AC signal (S300)includes a process of amplifying the magnitude of the AC signal tocorrespond to the resolution of an ADC and a process of converting theamplified AC signal into a digital signal having a constant resolution.In one embodiment, the processing of the DC signal and the AC signal(S300) includes a process of amplifying the DC signal or shifting thelevel of the DC signal, and converting the resultant DC signal into adigital signal. In one embodiment, a signal converted into a digitalsignal has a resolution having 256 levels ranging from 0 to 255 whendata obtained through the ADC is 8 bits long, and has a resolutionhaving 1024 levels ranging from 0 to 1023 when data obtained through theADC is 10 bits long.

Next, the applied pressure Ppress and a swing value of the AC signal arecalculated using the processed DC and AC signals (S400). In oneembodiment, the pressure sensor unit senses a pressure which is the sumof the atmospheric pressure Patm and the applied pressure Ppress, andthe applied pressure Ppress is calculated by subtracting the atmosphericpressure Patm from the sensed pressure. In one embodiment, a swing valuedy of the electrical signal is calculated. As described above, theprocessed electrical signal swings due to a variation in the pressureapplied to the skin rather than a variation in the atmospheric pressurePatm or the applied pressure Ppress. In one embodiment, the calculatedapplied pressure and swing value are stored in a memory in the form of acoordinate pair.

A blood pressure average Xavg is calculated using the applied pressurePpress and the swing value dy of the processed electrical signal (S500).As described above, a slope of a straight line formed by coordinatepairs of the swing value dy and the applied pressure Ppress in targettime periods is proportional to a blood pressure average of the subject,and the blood pressure average may be measured from the slope of thestraight line. That is, a blood pressure average is lower when astraight line with a slight slope is formed by coordinate pairs of theswing value dy and the applied pressure Ppress in the target timeperiods than when a straight line with a steep slope is formed bycoordinate pairs of the swing value dy and the applied pressure Ppressin the target time periods. The relation between the slope of such astraight line and a blood pressure average is shown in Equation 1 above.Thus, a blood pressure average of the subject may be calculated bycalculating the slope of the straight line formed by coordinate pairs ofthe swing value dy and the applied pressure Ppress and calculatingEquation 1 based on the calculated slope.

A pulse pressure dx, a maximum blood pressure Xmax, and a minimum bloodpressure Xmin are calculated using the blood pressure average Xavg, theswing value dy, and the slope (S600). As described above, the relationbetween a value dy/dx obtained by dividing the swing value dy by thepulse pressure dx and the applied pressure Ppress may be expressed inthe form of a straight line as illustrated in FIG. 6, and the pulsepressure dx may be expressed as Equation 6 above, based on Equations 4and 5. Thus, the pulse pressure dx may be calculated by calculatingEquation 6 using the swing value dy, the applied pressure Ppress, andthe blood pressure average Xavg which are stored in the memory unit 460during the calculation of the blood pressure average Xavg, the maximumblood pressure Xmax may be calculated by adding half the pulse pressuredx to the blood pressure average Xavg, and the minimum blood pressureXmin may be calculated by subtracting half the pulse pressure dx fromthe blood pressure average Xavg. Next, whether the blood pressure is tobe measured or not is determined (S700), and the blood pressure iscontinuously measured or measurement of the blood pressure is ended.

In one embodiment, the calculated blood pressures such as the bloodpressure average Xavg, pulse pressure dx, the maximum blood pressureXmax, and the minimum blood pressure Xmin are transmitted to an externalserver through wired/wireless communication. The blood pressure of thesubject may be monitored at any time at a location distant from thesubject, based on the calculated blood pressures transmitted to theexternal server. In another embodiment, the calculated blood pressuressuch as the blood pressure average Xavg, the pulse pressure dx, themaximum blood pressure Xmax, and the minimum blood pressure Xmin aretransmitted to a terminal through wired/wireless communication. Based onthe calculated blood pressures transmitted to the terminal, the subjectis able to conveniently measure his/her blood pressure at any time,thereby preventing in advance an accident from occurring, due to a sharpchange in his/her blood pressure.

With a blood pressure measuring apparatus and method according to thepresent invention, a blood pressure average, a pulse pressure, a maximumblood pressure, and a minimum blood pressure can be calculated bymeasuring a variation in a swing value dy in a situation in which anapplied pressure Ppress changes. Also, the precision of measuring ablood pressure can be improved through continuous data sampling.

The present invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to the embodiments illustrated in the appended drawings. Theembodiments are, however, provided as examples only used for a betterunderstanding of the present invention. It would be obvious to those ofordinary skill in the art that the above embodiments are to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope ofthe invention. Accordingly, it will be understood that various changesin form and details may be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of measuring blood pressure, the method comprising: sensing, by a pressure sensor, a static pressure, which is sum of an atmospheric pressure and an applied pressure, and a blood pressure of a blood vessel delivered to a skin, and outputting an electrical signal based on the sensed static pressure and the sensed blood pressure, wherein the electric signal is a composite signal of the atmospheric pressure, the applied pressure, and the blood pressure; dividing the electrical signal into a direct current (DC) signal component and an alternating current (AC) signal component; processing the DC signal component and the AC signal component; calculating the applied pressure using the processed DC signal component, by subtracting the atmospheric pressure from the static pressure sensed by and output from the pressure sensor; calculating a blood pressure average using calculated applied pressures and swing values of the processed AC signal component, wherein a swing value of the processed AC signal component is a difference between the maximum and minimum values of the processed AC signal component; after the calculating of the blood pressure average, calculating a pulse pressure by: (a) dividing a value, which is obtained by subtracting a second constant from a product of the blood pressure average and a first constant, by the applied pressure, and (b) multiplying a resulting value of the (a) by the swing value; and displaying at least one of the blood pressure average and the pulse pressure on a display device, wherein the dividing, the processing, the calculating the applied pressure, the calculating the blood pressure average, and the calculating the pulse pressure are each implemented via at least one processor.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing and the outputting comprise sensing the atmospheric pressure and the applied pressure, outputting the DC signal component indicating a result of sensing the atmospheric pressure and the applied pressure, sensing the blood pressure of the blood vessel delivered to the skin, and outputting the AC signal component indicating a result of sensing the blood pressure.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the DC signal component and the AC signal component comprises: amplifying the DC signal component and the AC signal component or shifting levels of the DC signal component and the AC signal component; and performing digital conversions on amplified or level-shifted DC signal component and AC signal component.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with at least one of an external server and a terminal through wired/wireless communication to transmit calculated average blood pressure to at least one of the external server and the terminal.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the blood pressure average comprises calculating a rate of transfer of pressure via subcutaneous tissue using the applied pressure.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the blood pressure average comprises: calculating coordinate pairs including the calculated applied pressures and the swing values; and calculating the blood pressure average from a slope of a segment formed by the coordinate pairs. 